How Kristina Smallhorn Grew Her YouTube Channel to 70,000+ Subscribers

There are a lot of different ways to grow your real estate YouTube channel. You can try to go viral with a clever listing video. You can lean hard into video SEO and make videos that the YouTube algorithm might like.

Or you can follow Kristina Smallhorn’s path: Consistently create informational videos that serve a niche audience and capture people’s attention with catchy titles and thumbnails.

This week on The Walkthrough, Kristina tells us how she’s grown her real estate YouTube channel to more than 70,000 subscribers and the impact it’s had on her business.

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe to get future episodes delivered automatically: Apple Podcasts/iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube

If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe to get future episodes delivered automatically: Apple Podcasts/iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube

Join our Walkthrough Listener Community

We’ve launched a Facebook community just for listeners of The Walkthrough. If you’re not a listener, please listen to a couple episodes and then join. You won’t get much value out of the group if you’re not a podcast listener. If you are already a listener, come join us to connect with other listeners, connect with the guests that you hear on the show, learn from other agents and share your knowledge, get exclusive content, influence future episodes, and more. You can find the group here: HomeLight Agent Community – The Walkthrough.

Links and Show Notes

• Kristina Smallhorn’s YouTube channel
• Real Estate YouTube Mastermind – Kristina’s Facebook group (with Malcolm Lawson)
• The YouTube Lead Gen Show – Kristina’s show (with Malcolm Lawson)
• Your Real Estate Whisperer – Kristina’s website
• Join our Facebook community for The Walkthrough listeners
• HomeLight’s Agent Resource Center
• Subscribe and listen to The Walkthrough: Apple Podcasts/iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | YouTube

Full Transcript

(SPEAKER: Matt McGee, Host)

Four years ago, Kristina Smallhorn had an idea. She wanted to do something different. And you know, we are all about different on this show, about standing out from the crowd.

Instead of using Facebook to grow her real estate business, like a lot of other agents were doing, she decided to try making videos for YouTube. Now, a lot of people told Kristina she was silly, that Facebook was the best place to build an audience and get leads. But that didn’t stop her. So, in March 2017, Kristina uploaded her first video. It’s like a coffee-talk-style monologue about her local schools and community. Guess what happened?

[sound effect: crickets]

It didn’t go well, and we can all relate to that, right? Even now, four years later, that video and most of her early videos have about 100 views, give or take.

Fast-forward to today. Kristina has more than 70,000 YouTube subscribers. If my math is right, she’s adding new subscribers at a rate of about 7,000 per month. Today, she says her YouTube channel is her business.

How did she make YouTube and video work so well? Let’s find out together.

This is “The Walkthrough.”

(INTRO MUSIC)

Hello, hello. How are you doing? My name is Matt McGee. I am the editor of HomeLight’s Agent Resource Center. Welcome to “The Walkthrough.” This is a weekly podcast. We have new episodes come out every Monday. This is the show where you’ll learn what’s working right now from the best real estate agents and industry experts in the country.

At HomeLight, we believe in real estate agents. We’re on a journey to find out how great agents grow their business, stand out from the crowd, and become irreplaceable.

If you want to get involved in the show, there’s a few different ways you can do that. Find me in our Facebook listener community. Just go to Facebook, search HomeLight Walkthrough and click the Join button. We’d love to have you in there. You can also leave a voicemail or send me a text. The number is 415-322-3328 or just send an email. It’s walkthrough [at] homelight.com.

You’ve read the articles. You’ve heard the coaches. You’ve seen the speakers at conferences talking about it. In the real estate industry, there’s no shortage of advice and encouragement around using video to grow your business, and especially using YouTube. There are a lot of different ways to do it. You can go hard on video SEO. You can go hard on entertainment style videos and try to get a viral hit. You can make really gorgeous listing videos, and try to pick up more seller leads that way.

My guest today took this path: consistent creation of informational videos targeted at a specific niche audience.

Kristina Smallhorn got her license 14 years ago. She’s a solo agent in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area. And as I mentioned just a few moments ago, today she says YouTube is her business. Her visibility there is helping her get new listings. It’s created a consistent stream of outbound referrals to other agents. And her channel itself is earning advertising revenue, too. So, I invited Kristina to come on “The Walkthrough” and share a bunch of tips from what she’s learned over the past four years of growing her YouTube channel.

On today’s show, listen for her to talk about

• the importance of video titles and thumbnails
• how she discovered what content her audience wants
• and more than subscriptions, what she really wants viewers to do on her channel

All of that is straight ahead. After the conversation, of course, I’ll share my takeaways. And then stay tuned to the very, very end of the show for a new segment that I’m calling “One More Minute.” I’ll explain what that is when we get there.

As the conversation starts, I asked Kristina why she decided to try YouTube four years ago. She told me that Facebook just wasn’t showing anyone the educational videos she was posting.

(BEGIN CONVERSATION)

Kristina: Yeah. When you go have a video that, like, normally would have gotten, like, 6,000 views and then the next time you post a video, because of the algorithm changing, it gets 6 views, you’re like, “What did I do different in this video?” So, you’re, like, breaking it down for yourself and then you realize, “This isn’t about me.” And I don’t know what their change is, and they’re not going to explain how to get it done right. I mean, there’s people on there that know how to do Facebook well and get their videos found. But I don’t make that kind of entertaining quality type of video that really goes viral on Facebook. And listing videos are fun, and they can go viral.

But I like to do the education aspect of real estate. So, it has worked out beneficially for me and my channel on YouTube. That is what YouTube is. People are looking for answers to their questions. It’s almost like an encyclopedia of people giving you the answers, and that’s what they use it for. So, that’s how I address my channel which worked out great for me.

Matt: And have you found over time that YouTube is also different in terms…it’s more evergreen content, right? Like, Facebook, I always feel like, you know, a successful Facebook video may have a shelf life of, like, a week or two. Whereas a successful YouTube video can have a shelf life of months, perhaps even years.

Kristina: Years. I used to say…this is, like, one of my things is, I say is that Facebook videos are a place where your hard work goes to die. It’s like the hot date that never calls you back. You, like, have such a great time that first day. It’s all so happy. The next day, you know, it was good, but it wasn’t as good. And then the third day, you’re like, “I called him, like, three times.” By the end of the week, he has ghosted you. That is what a Facebook video does for me. It’s like the hot date that never calls you back.

And then for YouTube, it’s like a long-building relationship. You know, you have some good views. You know, you have a great date the first few days. And then over time, it builds up and then you have this fantastic relationship with your video. I have a video that started off very well for me. You know, it got, like, over 1,000 views within the first day. And now, it’s a year later, that video has over 2 million views. I think it’s 2.2 million views. But did it have 2.2 million views in that first day? No. It built up over time. So, I think it’s…to me, it’s better because it has a more engaged audience that’s specifically looking for that content. On Facebook, it’s almost force-fed to you.

Matt: Let me ask you this. Did you succeed on YouTube right away?

Kristina: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. When I first did it, I was mostly…I was housing the videos that I had made on Facebook and just threw them up on YouTube. Then I decided that I was going to do YouTube. So, that’s when I was, like, kind of trying to focus on it. But it’s such a learning process. You know, you think you know some things. And then when you get into YouTube land, the algorithm, what people want, how the structure of that video is so different than any other platform. Every platform is going to have their own version of what they like when it comes to TikTok or Instagram or even Facebook. You’ve got to tailor it to the audience itself that’s on that platform because they’re looking for something completely different.

Over time, I learned how…like, what not to do because there’s so much bad information. And I was following what I thought were the right steps for a long time. And then I learned over time that what people had been telling me was the right steps for a YouTube video, were literally the wrong steps for a YouTube video. And I was like, “Oh my gosh.” Like, one of the biggest ones that I see…like, every time somebody says, “I’m doing everything they’re telling me to do.” And they’ll start off their video with, like, “This is the 10 ways to buy a house in Washington, D.C.” Then they run a 20-second intro. Then they introduce themselves. Then they talk about themselves for another 15 seconds. Then they get into the topic. By that time, the person watching is, like, “Shut up and tell me the 10 ways to buy a house in D.C.” And that was a common mistake.

Matt: You’re saying, on your early videos, it would be, like, 90 seconds, maybe 2 minutes before you actually got to the point, whatever the video was about.

Kristina: Minute, 35. That was it. A minute, 35.

Matt: Right. So, you were essentially asking viewers to spend a minute, 35, watching something that wasn’t what they wanted to watch.

Kristina: Asking them to subscribe before they even saw anything from me. “Make sure you like and share and subscribe so you get all my weekly videos.” You haven’t even given them anything yet and you’re asking them to do something for you when you haven’t even delivered anything for them. Why would they even do that?

Matt: What else is different about your videos now compared to what you were doing four years ago?

Kristina: I was told that, in order to be found in YouTube Search is you had to create titles that were like, “How to Buy a House,” you know, because that’s how people were searching. So, they’re like, in order to have SEO richness, you’re going to have to write it just like somebody was typing it out on YouTube. Well, how many people have made a video on how to buy a house? I did exactly what the experts told me to do as far as SEO is concerned. But that is not the way that people engage with content. They engage with content that grabs their attention.

So, I learned how to make titles that were not only just…not just for search, because that…I mean, if you did it just for search, you wouldn’t get the big views over time. You have to pick out something like you would see on a headline of a rag magazine. Like, the “National Enquirer” sells a lot of magazines because they have, you know, “Queen Elizabeth is Visited by Aliens.” Granted, that is what they call which is clickbait. Mine are…I deliver on the promise of my title. So, like, “Five Fantastic New Ways to Buy a Home in D.C.” That will grab people’s attention a heck of a lot more than “How to Buy Homes in D.C.”

Matt: Wait. Let’s stop right there. I want to make sure you caught what Kristina just said. Yes, SEO matters for getting your YouTube videos found. And, yes, your video titles are a key part of that. But what she’s saying is, your video title shouldn’t just be a keyword. It also needs to grab people’s attention. So, yeah, use keywords, but be creative. And make sure you don’t do it in, you know, a clickbait tabloid kind of way. Make sure, as Kristina said, that your video delivers on the promise of your title.

So far, you’ve heard Kristina give two pieces of advice. Number one, get to the point quickly in your videos. Viewers are looking for information. And then number two, write titles that are more than an SEO keyword. They need to grab people’s attention. So, let’s get back to the conversation. Kristina is talking about another really important way to capture attention: your video thumbnail.

Kristina: They want something that’s going to grab their attention that makes them click. So, you have to think of it that way as well. That little photograph is…you know, you think… It used to be almost like an afterthought. That would be the last thing I work on. And now, when I think of a thumbnail, if I don’t have a good title and thumbnail, I don’t even create the video. So, it’s like…because why would they…there’s nothing for them to be interested enough for them to click on it to want to watch it in the first place. So, if I don’t have that, then forget it.

Matt: Yeah. I’m glad you said that because I think that is really important. Those are the two things that, really, you have to nail is the title and the thumbnail. Somebody is going to do a search and they’re going to have, you know, 10, 20, 30, 50 videos to choose from. And what are you doing to get them to choose your video from that whole mess? And the thumbnail is super important. What makes a good thumbnail? Should the thumbnail match the title? Does it need to be the exact same? What’s your strategy there?

Kristina: It’s knowing your audience. My audience wants to know about affordable housing options. I’m almost like an afterthought when it comes to this. They like me and everything, but they don’t need to see my face. They do not need to see my face. And a lot of times, I’ll make a thumbnail that has my face on it, and then I’ll test it to see which one…if it’s mostly the house and I’m just a little, tiny person, that does better than my face being all over it. And I know that goes against a lot of real estate branding and they’re like, “Your face is your brand, and you need to have it on everything.” No, you don’t. Because the audience doesn’t care about you, honestly. Really, honestly, you’re just delivering information and if they like the information that you’ve given to them and they feel a connection with you, they will contact you. They will hunt you down.

Matt: Yeah. I’m looking at your videos page right now on your channel. And so, I’m seeing one, two, three, four, five. It looks like I’m seeing maybe 20 or 30 videos. And I’d say, Kristina, I see your face on maybe a third, maybe 40% of them. So, it’s not that you’re never showing your face, but it’s not every single video.

Kristina: Right. And it’s a test. So, I will test… When a video is released, you know pretty quickly if it’s engaging with your audience in a period of time. If, like, last week, your video came out and you only got 30 views, but this week within that first hour, you got 60 views, you know that this video is doing better. But if that video came out and it only got 10 views within the hour, you’re like, “Man, what did I do wrong?” That’s when you really need to, like, look at your title. You need to look at your thumbnail. What is it that’s not engaging with your audience? And change it. There’s nothing wrong with changing it.

Matt: I was just going to ask you that. How often do you do that? And how much time do you give it? Do you wait 24 hours? Do you wait a week and then go back and change the thumbnail or the title?

Kristina: If it’s a video that I know that should engage my audience, I start panicking. Like, what is… I really start panicking because I know there are certain things that, like, really will trigger my audience. And if it’s not triggering, I’m like, “Okay.” I have, like, five backup thumbnails. So, that’s when I’ll, like, “Okay. My face isn’t working. Here’s the other thumbnail.” And I’ll throw that in there. And then I’ll do another one where, you know, maybe I’ll just even flip the house, you know. Maybe I’ll even flip my face.

Matt: You heard Kristina say a few moments ago that her audience wants to hear about affordable housing. That’s kind of become her niche on YouTube. She does a lot of videos about affordable homes, manufactured homes, even tiny homes. Now, it wasn’t always that way. When she was starting out on YouTube — and you can see this on her channel — she did videos about open houses, being a first-time home buyer. She did several videos about caring for your home, you know, home repair, home cleanup. But none of those were super, super successful.

In 2019, she worked with a YouTube coach named Derral Eves. She attended the annual video marketing event that he puts on. It’s called VidSummit. Now, at the time of that conference, Kristina had about 3,000 YouTube subscribers. She has more than 70,000 today. Kristina credits Derral with helping her discover this niche.

Here’s what happened: Derral reviewed her YouTube channel and saw several videos about manufactured and modular homes. He told Kristina to just make one more video about that same topic.

Kristina: I kind of didn’t even want to do it, you know? And so, I do the video, I make the thumbnail like he told me to. I don’t even think it’s that pretty of a thumbnail. I do exactly what he says. The video comes out and within that first day, I got 66 views. And I went, “This guy is full of crap.” Another guru that is lying through his teeth. But I missed one key thing that he said. “Wait 21 days.” He said, in 21 days it will take off. But in my head, I’m like, “This is coming from the top guru that I know of on YouTube. He said I’m going to have a hit. So, it’s going to do really good that first day.”

It was one of those things, like you said, evergreen content grows over time. So, it did 66 views, then 120 views, then 350 views. Within those two weeks, I get to VidSummit, which was his conference. And I had forgotten about that video because I’m like, “Whatever. It didn’t do anything.” I opened up my thing and I’m like, “Oh, it has 1,500 views.” I’m like, “That’s pretty good.” And I kept checking it throughout that conference, and it was like 3,000 views, 6,000 views. I’m getting on a plane, I had 10,000 views. I get off the plane from California, it has 30,000 views. That, to me, was my first, like, viral moment on YouTube. It just was constantly getting views. I didn’t even think that was humanly possible. I was, like, super giddy. And I’m getting, like, hundreds of subscribers. Hundreds. I’m like, “From a video about manufactured homes? Are you kidding me?” But he could see that there was an audience that was interested in what I had to say about manufactured homes. There wasn’t many people that were getting a good education about that.

Matt: Would you say that focusing on this niche is one of the key things that helped grow your channel? And is that one of the pieces of advice you would give to listeners, is find a niche, find something you love and develop content around that?

Kristina: Of course. But also follow what your audience loves, too. You know, like, it takes time to understand your audience. And I’m always trying to figure out what my audience wants. I wouldn’t say, be a slave to your audience, you know. Like, I don’t put out a video about affordable housing every single week. I do it, like, you know, every once in a while. So, that way, you know, they can see my other content. So, that way, maybe there’s something else in my channel that someone else could be interested in so I could grow that audience as well. Not necessarily split the audience, but, like, I’m a real estate agent. I don’t just talk about, you know, affordable housing. I talk about what’s going on in the real estate market right now. And sure enough, that was one of those things that my audience that are interested in affordable housing also was very interested in what this real estate market is doing right now. And they trust my opinion about that.

(Announcer: For more great “Walkthrough” content, join our listener community on Facebook. It’s the place to connect with other agents, including the guests you hear on our show. You can influence upcoming episodes by suggesting guests and questions. And you’ll get exclusive content that we don’t share anywhere else. Just go to Facebook and search HomeLight Walkthrough. The click to join. It’s that easy. As a “Walkthrough” listener, you should be in this group. So, join us today.)

Matt: Is it important to be consistent in putting videos out? Does that help your chances of gaining an audience and getting views and subscribers?

Kristina: Absolutely. Right. Because as you build an audience, they’re almost automatically programmed, “Oh, it’s Tuesday.” You know, just like when you…remember years ago when people watched “Friends,” they knew it was like, “Thursday night. ‘Friends’ is on at 8:00.” So, you’re kind of almost training your audience like that. I have had a problem with consistency because, as you know, the real estate market has been quite crazy lately. And I’ve only been able to get two videos out in a month. But I normally do about four videos. I’m getting back on that train again, though. I do one every week. Every Tuesday, it comes out around 9, 9:30, 9:45-ish. I, you know, put out a video then and, you know, pray to the YouTube gods that it will be successful after I put in all that effort.

Matt: What is your CTA in your videos? Now, you mentioned earlier, it’s not all about you. Sometimes you don’t even mention your name till the end. But in your videos, are you specifically saying, “Please subscribe.” Like, how do you do that? Like, how do you get from 3,000 subscribers, Kristina, to 70,000 subscribers?

Kristina: Yeah. So, I think when all these, like…when they were saying, you know, “Please subscribe. Please subscribe,” because that was…YouTube was new. So, they were training an audience that was new to YouTube that there is this button here that they’re going to subscribe. Now, most people know what YouTube is. They understand what it means to subscribe. And I, at the end, will have, like, a little icon that will say “Subscribe” and I’ll, like, point a little arrow to my little icon that they subscribe with. But I still don’t even ask them to subscribe.

What I really want them to do is watch another video. So, if they’re watching a video about manufactured homes, I will say, “Oh, since you like this video, you probably will really want to watch this video here.” And I try to get them in a loop of watching more of my content that relates to the topic that they just watched. I do that with my cards in the video as well. I know that they clicked on this video for a reason. So, I want to keep them there for that reason.

Matt: You’re intentionally being not salesy. Is that right?

Kristina: Correct. And I know that goes against a lot of what we’re trained to do as real estate agents. But I found that because…people get sold to death. You know, they’re constantly being pushed to buy something, do something. Most people are mindlessly going through Instagram and stuff like that. When you are just a real person, you create that connection. People are going to subscribe to you because they like you. You’re not being pushy. You’re giving them information that they find useful. And they’ll definitely want to subscribe without you ever asking. So, just leave it at that. Quit trying to be the sneaky salesperson. Don’t put a bunch of different calls to action or free PDFs and this sales funnel from hell where they have to do 60,000 different things to get to your… Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. If you provide them with good information, they will hunt you down, they will stalk you, and they will find you because you said something to them in that piece that they couldn’t wait.

Somebody watched an hour-and-a-half livestream of mine. And at the end, I had said something about a foundation. I had an inspector on and I was understanding what some people call manufactured homes are not considered manufactured homes if they’re on a foundation. That wasn’t said until 1 hour and 20 minutes in a livestream. And this was after the fact. Somebody called me because of that, and was asking me questions about it. And I got them a real estate agent in Washington. And that was a referral fee. So, that’s a lot of my business now is that because I have this wide audience, I send out referrals, like probably five a day. Do they all turn into sales? Absolutely not. But I didn’t have to do a thing for it other than make a video.

Matt: Tell me more about that because I know our listeners are curious to know. You know, you’ve gone up to 70,000 subscribers on your YouTube channel. How has this impacted your business just over the last four years that you’ve been doing this?

Kristina: So, when I first started on YouTube, I created a YouTube channel to get business. Now, I have a YouTube channel that gives business to other people that I can refer out and they can send me a check. I have…you know, like, I get sponsorships and I get, like, little contracts with affiliate links. So, that way, I get paid through them. I also make a little bit on AdSense from the YouTube AdSense program. My YouTube channel is my business. I still sell real estate. I just don’t…I don’t really, like, go all-in on trying to get as many listings and buyers and sellers. I give away all the buyer leads. Like, I give them away. And with sellers, I do, do listings. Again, I’m not going out of my way to hunt down listings like I used to. With this whole thing with COVID and everything, I don’t really want to be in people’s houses. I have an autoimmune disorder. So, I just…this business has actually made me more money staying at home. Trying to change the way I’m doing things has actually made me more money this year than it did last year. So, I’m sticking with this.

Matt: I’m hoping, and I’m sure Kristina is, too, that we’ve inspired or encouraged you to either get started on YouTube or to improve what you’re doing if you already have a YouTube channel. As our conversation wrapped up, I thought of a couple things that might lead you to say, “No, Matt. I can’t do this,” or, “I’m just not ready to do this.” So, I asked Kristina for her thoughts about the fear of being on camera, which you’ll hear about in a moment. And first, what kind of gear do you need to make great videos?

Kristina: If someone is first starting out and they have it in their head that in order for them to have a successful video, they have to have the top of the line camera and top of the line audio and the lighting has to be perfect, that…really, they’re in their own head. Cellphones today are absolutely fantastic. When I started my YouTube channel, everything that I filmed was with my cellphone. To this day, I even do my listing videos with a cellphone. There’s nothing wrong with using a cellphone. I think the most that someone needs to worry about if they’re first starting is the audio quality. That’s important. So, get a good lapel mic that connects to your cellphone. That’s not that expensive. And if you’re concerned about lighting, lighting on Amazon is so cheap. So cheap. You can get a whole kit for less than 100 bucks.

And if that’s even too much for you, walk in front of a window or go outside to the park and do something like that. You know, people like real. And the more real you are with them and if you’re at the park and you’re talking about local schools and you’re out in the parking lot of that local school, they’ll appreciate that more than you standing in front of a fancy green screen with a bunch of graphics and everything else. They’ll feel like you took them on a trip to exactly what they want to see, which is the local school. You know, like, you just have to be a little bit more creative. There’s nothing wrong with using your cellphone. The gear is not what makes the video. It’s what you’re saying, the content itself, is more important than the gear.

Matt: So, gear is one of the common excuses that — I’ll use that word — may be one of the common reasons that someone says, “I don’t want to do this.” The other is, “I don’t like how I look on camera. I’m afraid to be on camera.” Was that anything you ever had to overcome?

Kristina: No. I’m a dork. No, I didn’t have to overcome that. I do have anxiety about being on camera. I do get, like, really amped up because…you know, so, I know so many people do watch my videos. So, that does —

Matt: Even after four years?

Kristina: Even after four years, yes. Yes. I think it’s actually worse now because I knew no one was watching my videos before. So, I could be as stupid as I wanted to be. And now, I’m like, “People are watching me,” you know. So, whatever. But thing is that, you know, that was another thing. “You are your brand. So, you have to be in your videos.” There are hundreds of thousands of very successful YouTube channels that are strictly voiceover. And if you don’t want to be in the video, don’t be in the video. There’s no end-all, be-all, wrong way to make a video. There’s some good practices. You know, yes, people like to engage with a person. But if you’re not comfortable with that, then forget it. You know, don’t put your face all over that. And there’s another person on the other side of that screen that’s like, “Thank god they didn’t stick their fricking face in that video. I just wanted to hear what they wanted to say. And they weren’t all up in the lens.” There’s an audience for that.

So, you do what’s comfortable for you that you feel like that will connect with an audience. And as long as what you’re delivering, the information that you’re giving is quality information that you know would be important to somebody here, you’re going to win. Period.

(Speaker: Matt McGee, Host)

Oh, I love that. Focus on quality information, first and foremost. Be the knowledge expert in your area.

We’ll do our takeaway segment in just a moment. And then stay tuned for that new “One More Minute” segment at the very, very, very end of the show.

Before all that, if you want to connect with Kristina, take a look at today’s show notes. Kristina partners with an agent named Malcolm Lawson. And together, they have a Facebook group that’s dedicated to agents who want to do better on YouTube. They also do a show together about YouTube on YouTube. So, I will link to all of that from the show notes. Kristina has also joined our Walkthrough listener community. So, be sure to join us there, too, so you can ask Kristina any questions that you have about what you heard today.

All right. It is takeaways time. This is what stood out to me from today’s show.

Takeaway number one: get to the point. Don’t spend precious time at the start of your videos talking all about yourself and begging people to subscribe. Give viewers the info that they’re looking for. This is important, by the way, because YouTube loves to see what’s called a high watch time on your videos. If you have a 10-minute video and people are bailing on it after 30 seconds, that’s not good.

Takeaway number two: your video title is really important. It’s not just about SEO and cramming the perfect keyword in there. Kristina’s advice: think about what will make the user click on your video instead of all the others.

Takeaway number three: the thumbnail, also super important. It’s not an afterthought. Think in advance about what kind of thumbnail is going to grab people’s attention. And then be willing to change your thumbnail or your title, in fact, if the video isn’t performing like you expect it to. Kristina said she likes to have five backup thumbnails ready to use.

Takeaway number four: develop a niche or a specialty that you can focus on, something that you’re really, really passionate in talking about. But as Kristina said, she doesn’t make her niche the only topic of her videos.

And then takeaway number five: if you’re going to ask viewers to subscribe, and you should, do it at the end. But Kristina says she’d actually rather ask viewers to watch another video. The more videos they watch, the more videos they like, then getting that subscription should happen naturally.

All right. Questions or feedback for me or Kristina, you can leave a voicemail or send a text. It’s 415-322-3328. You can send an email to walkthrough [at] homelight.com, or as I mentioned, you can find us in our Facebook listener community. Just go to Facebook. Do a search for HomeLight Walkthrough, and the group will come right up. Click Join. Love to see you in there.

All right. That’s all for this week. Thanks so much to Kristina Smallhorn for joining me, and thank you for listening. If you like what you hear, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. That would really mean a lot to me. Also, click that Subscribe button so you can get all future episodes delivered automatically.

My name is Matt McGee. You’ve been listening to “The Walkthrough.” At HomeLight, we believe in real estate agents. We’re on a journey to find out how great agents grow their business, stand out from the crowd, and become irreplaceable. Go out and safely sell some homes.

Talk to you again next week, everyone. Bye-bye.

(OUTRO MUSIC)

Matt: Welcome back, and welcome to a new segment I’m calling “One More Minute.” This will be an occasional segment at the end of our show. I’ll try to keep it to about 60 seconds, and it’ll be something I wanted to share with you. It might be about marketing, motivation, business, or something else.

Today, I want to talk about perseverance. Did you see “The Queen’s Gambit”? Great, great show. Came out a few months ago on Netflix. Do you know the story behind it? The producers of that show bought the screenplay rights to the book back in 1992. Then they spent 28 years trying to get the story made. Twenty-eight years! They rewrote the screenplay nine times. They were rejected by every studio they pitched it to because the studios thought no one would be interested in a story about chess.

Well, Netflix finally bought it, and the series premiered in October. You know the rest. Sixty-two million households watched “The Queen’s Gambit” in its first 28 days on Netflix. It was the number one most watched show all year on Netflix.

Moral of the story: don’t give up on that thing that you’re passionate about, that big idea you have. Maybe you’re planning to join or start a team this year. Maybe you’re planning to start your own brokerage, like Abby Walters did a few weeks ago in Strasburg, Virginia. Stick with it. Persevere.

That’s “One More Minute.” I’m Matt McGee. Thanks for listening. See you next week with another “Walkthrough.”

Header Image Source: (Artur Czuba / Pixabay)